


The Figments of Inkwater

by tnnyoh



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Oxventure
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Spooky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 03:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18490237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: The guild is drawn back to Inkwater to uncover a supernatural murder mystery, all the while dealing with the overeager townsfolk they meet along the way.





	The Figments of Inkwater

The rain pattered gently against the windows of a well lit tavern in a small village nobody remembered the name of, four adventurers sat at a wide table and involved themselves in various activities.

Corazón looked at his hands and truly seemed to study the rings on his fingers, Dob looked at him from across their table

 “Corazón, are you high again?”

“No” He frowned “I’m trying to… how many rings is too many?”

Merilwen, who had been ordering their drinks came back with a tankard of ale for everyone, how she managed to carry them all the way from the barkeep to their table was a mystery, she set one gently in front of Corazón “You’re a pirate, you’re allowed to have as many rings as you want”

“But does it look like I’m trying too hard?” He asked

The gang was relaxing, fresh off yet another adventure, they took to a small tavern to get a drink and some much needed food, the weather outside was bad, the sky dark as could be and the rain hitting against the windows.

“Everyone thinks you’re trying too hard, Percy” Dob said, taking a small sip of his ale  and setting it down on the table, he looked at Prudence, who is sitting across from him. “Don’t you think ‘Percy’ is trying too hard?”

Prudence nodded “I’ve always thought that about Ol’ Percival”, it was at this point the warlock and the bard started roaring with laughter, Dob almost knocking over his ale in the process, Corazón stopped looking at his rings and glared at his companions

“Are you two quite finished?”

Dob took another sip of ale and coughed, trying to gain composure, he nodded his head “Yes, Percy”

While the adventurers were having a laugh, a drink and some food, the storm raged on outside, occasional claps of thunder and a strike of lightning shocking the dreary sky. A man who had been sitting at a table across the tavern, pushed up from his chair and approached them. Corazón noticed the man first.

“There’s someone headed over here” he said in a low voice

“Does he have presents?” Dob asked quietly

“Shhh!” Corazón commanded as the stranger stopped by the table, he cleared his throat slightly and spoke

“You folks don’t know me, but I’m Abner Anchivi and I’ve heard of some of yours adventures you’ve been having all across the map. I thought you might be interested in what seems to be going on in Inkwater”

“Is it another owlbear? Because we already met one of those”

The man shook his head “Ain’t no owlbear up in inkwater that’s been causing these problems, villagers think they’ve gone mad or been cursed.  I came up here to try to find some answers, it’s a right stroke of luck I find myself in the same tavern with you four”

“There’s actually five of us” Merilwen piped up “But the dragon is sleeping on the ship”

Corazón looked at the man and frowned “Look, we’re all really tired and we just got done with something, the last thing anyone wants to do is go on another long-winded and dangerous adventure that could get us all killed or seriously disfigured or emotionally scarred for life” 

“I’ll pay you” The man said reasonably, cupping his hands together.

Before anyone else noticed the pirate move at all, he was already by the door preparing to head back to the ship, he turned to the table where his friends sat “Well?”

“Cora, can’t we sit this one out?” Dob asked, miserably, having not fared well during their last adventure.

“You can if you want, but I’m interested to see what’s happening in Inkwater, anyone who wants to help me solve this mystery… I’ll be on the ship”

Abner approached the doorway “Here’s a letter for you, when you get into Inkwater, I have a couple of people you should meet with who may be able to help you get to the bottom of this.” He handed him said letter and Corazón placed it inside his jacket, nodding at the man.

“Now if ya don’t mind, I’m going to drink my arse off, but you let me know if there’s a solution for that problem up in Inkwater”

“Sure…” Corazón said, “I’ll… send a traveling minstrel to sing the tale”  He looked over at the table again where his guild-mates were, still sitting and enjoying their beverages “Anyone who comes with me to the ship also gets to steer it for five minutes!”

Prudence, Dob and Merilwen pushed quickly away from their table, hastily leaving gold to pay for their mostly unfinished drinks and joined Corazón at the door.

“We’d be glad to help you, buddy” Dob said, patting Corazón on the shoulder.

When they arrived back on the ship, they saw Egbert had already woken up and was lamenting the weather “It’s raining” He said.

Corazón looked up at the sky for a moment and looked back at his dragon friend, shaking his head. “Anyway!” 

The crew prepared to disembark from the harbor, Merilwen filled Egbert in on their plan to head to Inkwater excitedly

“I hope I see the little owlbear again” She said with an almost squee of excitement, Corazón gave this a groan

“I’m still pissed that you wouldn’t let us kill that thing, you’re as bad as Dob wanting to adopt every man, woman and child we see”

“Hey!” Dob and Merilwen both shouted defensively

“I am nothing like Dob!”

Dob turned to his wood elf friend with something akin to a sad expression on his face “Excuse me? Who wouldn’t want to be like me?”

“I do believe the saying is ‘don’t’ be a Dob” Prudence joined in

This argument went on for quite some time with the five of them speaking over each other, they were so involved with their argument that they didn’t realize the ship had started moving away from the harbor.

The rain started pounding harder as they sailed through choppy waters, and the light from the sun, seen earlier in the morning was completely blocked out by the storm clouds.

It only took them several hours to arrive in Inkwater by ship, and much of that time had been spent poorly by the crew, not having discussed the reasons for heading to Inkwater or made any sort of guess as to what could possibly be happening.

They pulled into the harbor and Corazón paid off the docking fee to the impatient man standing by waiting, he turned back to his crew who were still coming down onto the dock “Wait a second”

Everyone paused “What is that smell?”

“It can’t be urine, we’re not in Tanner’s Folly”

The harbormaster let out a slight cough “That smell is from the Chamber of Earl”

Merilwen sniffed the air and smiled in surprise “It smells absolutely amazing!”

“It ought to, the Baroness is throwing a soiree this evening in celebration of the spring fall” He shrugged “I’m not much into the festivities of it all to be honest, it’s been a bit gloomy around here lately”

“Oh?” Corazón asked, leaning against the railing of the dock “What do you got for me, mate?”

“You think I don’t have a job to do that I’m going to stand around and give you local gossip?”

Corazón shrugged “I’m incredibly charming, if that helps”

“I’m not gonna lie, you are the first person to actually speak to me in months, so I’ll… I’ll let you in on some local goings-on. They say a curse has been put on our town”

“What kind of curse?” Prudence said, stepping onto the dock “Because I need to brush up on my curses”

“We don’t know if it’s actually true or not, it’s just something going around, all we really know is that it’s supernatural in nature, possibly ghosts”

Corazón laughed and slapped his hand against the wooden railing “Excuse me?” he said, struggling to keep a straight face “You… you think your town is haunted?”

“What mate, you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“Uh, no” Corazón said, putting his hands on his hips

“Then why are you always so scared?” Merilwen asked from behind him, Corazón who did not know she was there screamed at the sudden noise from her.

He shook it off “I… have no idea what you’re talking about”

“Nice deflection, Corazón”

“Thank you Dob” Corazón said, turning back to the harbormaster “Why do you think it’s ghosts?”

The man shrugged “I mean, if you ask around here.. You’re going to get a lot of different stories, but I think that it started about a month ago…” He looked to the sky “Ever since that weird cult got sacked out of here, and that giant owl creature left.. We’ve all been left to do whatever we want, don’t even got to whisper for fear of waking anything up anymore.”

Corazón and the others exchanged worried glances while the man spoke, the rain was still lightly falling against them and in the distance, they could hear thunder. 

“But it’s been weird, like this this vibe here that doesn’t feel right.. Ya know that feeling you get when you’re being watched? It’s like that here, but all the time…”

“Did anything happen a month ago besides the cult leaving?” Corazón asked

“Well there was a murder”

“I didn’t do it!” Dob shouted “We were well gone by that time”

The harbormaster took a pause and glanced at Dob, eyebrows raised “What is your friend talking about?”

Corazón hesitated a moment before answering “Uh, we were actually here about a month or two ago-”

“Or three, maybe even four” Dob said “We don’t have a time keeper so we never know how long it’s been”

Corazón nodded in agreement before continuing “We’re the reason that cult isn’t here anymore”

“We also released the owlbear”

The man howled with laughter, doubled over and slapped at his thighs “I heard about that! You really scared the townspeople with that, but we’re all really happy that cult’s gone. So thank you for that”

Corazón gave a small theatrical bow “We aim to please, my good man” 

“So, about this murder?” Merilwen asked

“Yep, some aristocrat bludgeoned to death in his own estate, some say his son did it” The harbormaster said as casually as possible while talking about a brutal murder.

Corazón cleared his throat “Excuse me?”

“Well, the son.. Arthur, he’s not quite had a great relationship with his father, so that’s why people suspect he’s the one who killed em”

“Is there anyone questioning that?”

“A lot of people believe he did it.”

“How is this related to the ghosts?”

“Well, it started after young Arthur killed his father”

“Allegedly!” Merilwen gasped

“Yes, _allegedly_ it started after that… There’s some rumors he was involved in dark magics”

“Just how ‘young’ is young Arthur?” Corazón asked

“He’s.. He’s about seventeen”

“Seventeen…” Corazón trailed off “Well we’ve all thought about murdering our fathers at that age, but that doesn’t mean he _did_ it”

Prudence gave Corazón a slight nudge on his shoulder “You’re being weird again” She said in a low voice

“I am not being weird, you’re being weird”

Merilwen pushed between the two “You’re both being weird, now… My legs hurt, can we please go find an in or something?”

The harbormaster pointed a little ways away from the docks “There’s the Unlucky Giraffe just up the road”

The party bid a farewell to the harbormaster while Corazón very quickly snatched the gold he had just given the man for the tie up fee out of his pocket when he wasn’t looking, an action that surprisingly worked quite well. He looked very pleased with himself as they headed towards a run down looking building with a sign on it “The Unlucky Giraffe”

“This sounds like it should be a tavern”

“It is” Corazón said, reading the sign “It’s a tavern and an inn. They’ve got beds upstairs”

Prudence squinted up at the sign “Where are you seeing that?”

“Yeah” Dob said “All I see are weird words that make no sense”

“Seriously guys? It’s french..”

“Corazón speaks french? What a nerd” Dob and Egbert shared a laugh behind him but quickly fell silent when he turned to look at them, shaking his head.

“I’m a pirate with magic, I can understand whatever language I can touch, but also I knew french before”

“From before when?”

“From before I met you idiots, now lets go in the goddamn tavern”

The interior of the tavern was obnoxiously loud, mismatched patterns and brightly colored paints nearly blinded the guild as they walked into the establishment. Corazón blinked hard several times and then turned back to the door “Did I just walk into some kind of alternate dimension?”

The tavern was quite empty during these midday hours but despite this, there were still a couple of patrons huddled at tables, drinking in silence and minding their own business. Corazón and the others got drinks from the bar and chose a table to sit at, keeping to themselves, discussing what could possibly be going on in this little town, it was a very relaxing time, of which they all had very little of in the last few months.

This calm lasted for a while, until two other would-be patrons came into the tavern and took up a table right across from Corazón and the others.

The tavern keeper came to the new patrons table and took their order, there was one man who had blonde hair past his shoulders, and a woman with black hair cut short.  “So anyway” The man said as the bartender went back behind the bar to retrieve the drinks “I says to them, I says that.. ‘I’m a pirate, I dare you to take me in’”

She laughs “You did _not!”_

“I did, the thing is… idiot copper tried to arrest me”

Corazón stared at his drink, trying to pay attention to the conversation while fighting the urge to interrupt. 

“Can’t believe the idiot, what did mam say?”

“Mam said I was an idiot and smacked me across the head” He said with a shrug “What can ya do? That’s the life of a pirate… Living on the seas, an attractive rogue with impeccable taste”

The woman laughed “Ha! Yeah right, you’ve been on a ship like twice now, you’re not a pirate”

“I’m more of a pirate than anyone else in this one boat town”

Corazón took a deep breath and closed his eyes, Merilwen, who was sitting on the same side of the booth as him put her hand on his shoulder “Please Corazón, don’t do this again” 

“I just…” he started, he let out an extremely exasperated sigh.

The patrons received their drinks and continued talking about the man’s ridiculous exploits, he was cheerfully sloshing his beverage about until he actually threw the contents of his tankard all over the next booth, splashing Corazón right in the face and all over his coat.

Merilwen’s eyes widened as the pirate wiped his face with his hand and rose out of his seat, approaching the man and woman’s table, he cleared his throat

“What is it mate, I’m having a conversation here” he looked up at the man in front of him and gulped

“Shit”

“Damn right, you just threw your drink on me!”

“Didn’t… mean to” the man said, staring at him “I… have we met?”

This took Corazón by surprise and he took a closer look at the man “I… don’t think so?”

“No no no, I’m sure we’ve met before. I recognize your face”

“Well” Corazón put his hands on his hips sheepishly “I am quite a well know pirate in these lands.”

“Name?”

“Corazón de Ballena”

“I’ve heard the name, but I don’t think that’s it…” He got out of his chair and stood to full height, he was several inches taller than Corazón and he squinted at him.

“Doesn’t he look familiar, Rose?”

The woman cocked her head noncommittally and gave a sigh “I recognize him”

Corazón sighed “Yes, from all the tales of my bravery.”

Rose shook her head and then burst out into laughter “Edward! I know who this is” she elbowed the air in between her and Corazón “This is little Perry!”

Edward’s eyes widened and he made a loud whooping sound “Oh my days! You’re right, it’s little Perry!”

Corazón heard a giggle behind him from the wood elf and restrained the urge to glare back at her, instead, focusing his attention on the man in front of him “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Are you telling me you’re not Percival Milquetoast?”

“What was it I used to call him?” Rose piped up

“You called him a lot of things, Pissy was one of them” Edward said with a barking laugh

“Oh yeah!” Rose shouted, the barkeep looked up over the bar, appearing slightly irritated that they were making so much noise in his establishment, but he simply continued wiping down the bar. “Do you remember when I called you that and you started crying?”

Corazón scoffed at her “I-i- have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve never seen you in my whole life and.. You have me confused with someone who looks like me, maybe, probably”

Merilwen got out of the booth, coming up behind Corazón and looked right at Edward and his sister “Excuse me, who are you people?”

Rose chuckled “Oh my god, look Ed! Pissy’s got himself a girlfriend” She pounded the table with her fists, nearly knocking the ale over. She was laughing so hard she literally began to cry.

“I don’t have a girlfriend!” Corazón shouted “Merilwen here is my wood elf druid friend, and she’s more like a sister than anything else” He looked at Merilwen “No offense”

She shrugged “None taken, I feel the same way”

Edward howled with laughter again at this “You feel like he’s your sister!?”

“Bloody hell” Corazón groaned, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a pinch of sand, blowing it into the air and causing several orbs of light to appear out of nowhere, glowing dimly in the bar.

Edward and his sister turned to the display “Woah… How did he…”

“Anyway, while you’re distracted with that. I do remember you, both of you. And what the in hell are you doing here?”

Rose tore her eyes away from the lights “We’re on vacation” She said with a smile

Dob, who had also joined the small group forming around Corazón cleared his throat “Cora, you gonna explain who these people are?”

“Yes, in a minute… Why don’t you all come over and join us?” He asked reluctantly, unfortunately for him the two of them agreed and joined them over at their booth, Rose and Edward ordered a new drink, and the barkeep kept eyeing Corazón and then looking at a plaque that read “Pas De Magie”

Corazón shrugged at the man and went back to his drink. “So, anyway.. These fine twins here are Edward and Rose Finnshaw.  They used to live in my neighborhood in Hertfordshire when I was growing up”

“I assume from the loud howling laughter that they weren’t very nice to you?”

Corazón shook his head “No, no they were not... This one” He indicated Rose “Cut off part of my hair in my sleep”

Rose snickered, clearly proud of herself

Egbert spoke up “I’m a paladin, and my life work is doing good things. I don’t… really understand the purpose of being mean to another person, what does that get you?”

“I mean, you’d have understood if you knew Percy when he was a kid” Edward chimed in “He was the worst, most obnoxious brat you could ever meet”

“I mean… maybe that’s because I lived in hell” Corazón said through gritted teeth

“Oh right” Rose said “He has this idea that he had a bad childhood, he had like.. The same childhood as we did” She tapped her brother on the shoulder “And we turned out fine”

“Never mind that” Corazón said, clearly more irritated than he was letting on “I overheard your conversation about… trying to get arrested for being a pirate, you don’t actually think you’re a pirate right?”

Edward nodded “I am! Been on several pirate ships”

“Which ones?”

Edward hesitated and looked around the tavern, either because he was stalling for time or he was hoping something in the tavern would give him inspiration.

“The Hovering Shark?” Corazón asked, taking a causual sip of his ale

“No, not that one” Edward said nervously, eyes still darting to and from different points in the tavern.

“The Pride of The Sea?” Corazón asked, a smirk on his lips.

He could sense Edward’s immense fear before the man simply broke “Oh alright! I’ve never been on a pirate ship, I.. just… I think being a pirate would be kind of cool and even though mam thinks I’m an idiot for it, I…”

“Wait a minute, your parents know you want to be a pirate and they haven’t disowned you?”

Rose’s eyes widened and she looked away “Uh… well, not uh.. This conversation would be best had with another subject” She forced a smile and Corazón couldn’t tell if it was just his imagination, but she looked like she was ready to cry, and not from laughing.

“We should actually head out” Corazón said “We have a job to be doing and… you know, adventures can’t have themselves”

“Wait” Edward said “Why don’t we come with you!” He smiled “It’d be a perfect chance for me to see a real pirate in action”

Corazón shook his head “No, I’m not going to …”

Dob leaned over, hands on the table and a serious expression in his eyes “How do you feel about riding around in a papoose?”

Edward’s face turned pale “A papoose?”

“Dob, will you knock it off!” Corazón smacked Dob’s hand off the table “Stop trying to adopt everyone we meet, especially not these monsters”

Dob crossed his arms, looking upset

“Look” Corazón started “You two can stay here in this tavern and not move and definitely not involve yourself in any way to what we’re doing, and uh… We’ll come get you when we need you”

“Sounds fair!” Edward said cheerfully

And with that the guild rose from their booth to head out into the town of Inkwater once more, Corazón looked behind him at the tavern, Edward and Rose were staring at him with wide smiles and waving.

“I hate them so much”

“I kind of like them” Prudence said “but I would have burned your hair off in your sleep”

**Author's Note:**

> I took liberties with the Dancing Lights spell, but I thought it would be cooler this way, note is only here so hardcore D&Ders won't get mad at me.


End file.
